Google has released Android 15, which aims to boost productivity and the media experience. The first developer preview of Android 15 is available for Pixel devices. This is meant for developers, not regular users.
The company has made it slightly difficult to install the preview, forcing users to either sideload the OTA or the system image on their Pixel device. This is because they don’t want users to break or damage their phones, especially during the early development phase of Android 15.
How to install Android 15
Google made it difficult to install the Android 15 Developer Preview. Below, we have covered the guide for you, which we will share below.
Android 15 Pre-Requirements for Developer Preview
- Developer Preview: It’s very unstable pre-release software and is only meant for developers because it can break in unexpected ways. Sometimes you may need to opt out of Developer Preview, which results in losing data and having to set up the device again.
- Supportable device: Google is testing Android 15 Developer Preview on Pixel devices only.
- Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro
- Google Pixel 7a
- Google Pixel 7 and 7 Pro
- Google Pixel 6a
- Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
- Google Pixel Fold
- Google Pixel Tablet
- Backup your data. Ensure you take a proper backup of your important stuff.
How to install Android 15 Developer Preview
Android 15 Developer Preview isn’t part of the Android Beta Programme, so you need to sideload (manually flash) on your Pixel devices.
To do this, you need to set up your computer and device in debugging mode. Below are some requirements.
- Linux, macOS, or Windows
- Android 15 supports devices.
- USB OTG cable to connect a mobile device to a computer
Now start with the setup developer mode/option by navigating to Device Settings > About Phone, then tapping x7 times on the build number. After enabling developer mode, go back to the main menu (Device System Settings), then head over to System to go to the Developer option, and from there toggle to enable USB Debugging.
Method 1: Download Nexus Tools to install Android 15 OTA files.
- Download and install the Nexus Tool.
- After setting up the Nexus Tool, your Pixel device will automatically install the ADB Developer environment on your computer.
- Now you can follow the further instructions to install OTA files from your computer on your Pixel device.
Method 2: Download and Flash Android 15 Developer Preview via OTA Files
This is among the safest and easiest methods to sideload Android 15 from the Android Developers Website.
- Start by downloading the Android 15 Developer Preview.
- Connect your Google Pixel device to your computer via a USB cable.
- Next, enable USB debugging, and for promotion, check the checkbox for “Always allow from this computer.”
- After this, open Terminal/CMD to execute these commands.
- adb reboot recovery
- adb devices
- If it shows the device’s ID with Sideload, then you have successfully set up the bridge between your computer and device.
- Adb sideloads ota_file.zip (Replace “ota_file.zip” with your downloaded file.)
- That’s it. It will take some time before you finish flashing Android 15 on your device.
Method 3: Flash using the Android Flash Tool Route
You can also flash your device via the Android Flash Tool Route, and this is the easiest one because you don’t need any external tools to install.
- Download and install the Android Flash Tool.
- Start by connecting your Pixel device to your computer.
- Launch the Android Flash Tool, then click on Get Started, which then takes you to the page where you need to download the essential Android USB driver.
- If you already installed the USB driver, then click on Already installed.
- After that, click on Allow ADB access to establish the bridge between your computer and device.
- Now on your Pixel device, confirm accessing the ADB key by tapping Allow and checking the checkbox for Always Allow.
- No devices are available. If it shows that there are no devices available on the Android Flash Tool route,
- This is one of the most common errors that users find while using the Android Flash Tool Route. In this case, you should follow the on-screen instructions to rectify the issue.
- Now add a new device, and once it shows the pixel, you need to click on the Connect button.
After getting your device connected, you can search for the build for Android 15 and then click on the build that you want to install. Click on Install Build, which will factory reset your device, unlock the bootloader, and replace the already installed (previous system files) with the latest Android 15 Developer Preview build.
While it is installed, keep your patience, and once finished, it will automatically reboot and take you to the Pixel welcome screen. You can use the Android Flash Tool ROUTE to install any version of Android on a supported device or a Pixel device.